Mrs. Loppnow's News & Notes
Week of November 6, 2017
A Note from Mrs. Loppnow:
Hello Parents!
I hope it was a great week for you all! Our week was filled with many fun activities. We spent time writing letters of gratitude to our US veterans. There were some pretty incredible letters! See below for just a few examples.
I want to give a SHOUT OUT to our first Kindness Ambassador, Evan! I am so lucky to have such an amazing group of students this year...seriously! Each and every one of them could hold this honor. Evan has shown great leadership in the classroom and is kind to everyone. His smile lights up our classroom and his hard work is a great motivator to all! Thank you, Evan, for all you do to represent our classroom and make us all proud! Our next Ambassador will be chosen in the New Year.
Enjoy your weekend!
Mrs. Loppnow
651-425-5667
KINDNESS AMBASSADOR......EVAN!
THANK YOU LETTERS TO VETERANS
A Peek into this week and next!
Writer's Workshop: We officially began our unit on writing Personal Narratives. We are taking it slowly and talked a lot about what "Good Writers Do". We related writers to athletes and brainstormed all of the things they have in common. Some ideas included: working hard, not giving up, knowing the rules, practicing, and being open to feedback. It is so exciting to see the students make connections to our Growth Mindset activities from September! I just know they will be extremely successful with this unit! Next week we will dive into "Finding Ideas for Stories" and will focus on PEOPLE and PLACES that our special to us. This "pre-work" to writing teaches the students ways to brainstorm many story ideas in a short amount of time. I am hoping they will use these ideas in their daily at-home journals as well.
Content: This week we began our MAPPING unit. I can't wait for you to see the students' Compass Rose projects! They will be hanging up in the pod area, so stop on by someday and take a peek. Next week students will learn about reading a grid, using scale on a map, and identifying symbols, as well as finding their EXACT place in space! HOMEWORK: Be sure your child knows his/her address for this project! This includes the street name and house number. For those of you who have had students go through 3rd grade, you may remember the infamous "ISLAND MAP PROJECT". This is a fun, at-home assignment that will come home on WEDNESDAY. Our learning this week and next will prepare the students to be successful with this project. Please be watching for more details!
Reader's Workshop: Our focus this week was identifying an author's tone. We learned that author's get their feelings across by the words they use in their text. Oftentimes, this includes the use of Figurative Language. Students practiced identifying author's tone within their independent reading books and class read alouds. Next week we will begin our next Reading Benchmark which will focus on questioning strategies.
MATH SPOTLIGHT STRATEGY
This week's SPOTLIGHT STRATEGY is...STANDARD ALGORITHM (ADDITION)...a look at REGROUPING
REMINDERS & REQUESTS:
- BATTLE OF THE BOOKS: It is exciting to see so many students participating in the Battle of the Books reading challenge! Some groups started meeting already this week! Please remember to meet our class back in the LUNCHROOM for dismissal to the classroom. Students should not be waiting in the classroom or pod areas. Thanks!
- BOOK LOGS: Rocky's Reading and Writing Club sheets are due on MONDAY! Please make sure you have recorded your minutes AND received a parent signature. Thank you! Writing notebooks should be returned each Monday for an opportunity to SHARE.
- BOOK ORDERS: Because of our amazing Red Rock book fairs, I do not do many book orders during the year. However, I find that the Holiday time is the PERFECT time to send home an order! This is a great way to find reasonable gifts for your holiday celebrations! If you choose to order gifts for your child, I can keep it "hidden" for you to pick up during a time your child won't see it.I will be sending a book order home before Thanksgiving...be watching for it in your child's take home folder.
Upcoming Events:
- 11-23 & 11-24: NO SCHOOL: Thanksgiving
- 11-30: End of Trimester One: All-School Assembly
- 12-1: NO SCHOOL: Teacher Workshop Day
- 12-6: College t-shirt/sweatshirt day
- 12-9: Red Rock Day at Barnes & Noble
- 12-21 to 1-2: NO SCHOOL: Winter Break